SCORES of working dogs and their handlers will converge on London next month to vent their anger at proposals to ban tail-docking.

Countryside groups and dog breed-ers are in uproar after the government back-tracked on pledges not to introduce the ban.

The ban will affect 58 breeds listed by the Kennel Club which are traditionally docked.

Docking is currently undertaken by vets on puppies just a few days old to prevent future damage to their tails.

A ban could be in force this year which has set ministers on a collision course with countryside groups who believe the decision is another assault on traditional rural practices.

Country sports group BASC is now organising 100 docked working dogs and their handlers to lobby MPs on February 12 ahead of next month's vote on the Animal Welfare Bill.

Simon Clarke, of Rossett-based BASC, said: "No MP would deliberately smash the tail of a dog, leaving it a lacerated bloody mess. A ban on docking working dogs would do exactly that.

"It would be a misguided attempt to improve animal welfare which will cause unnecessary suffering to thousands of dogs."

He pointed to evidence from Sweden where one in three undocked working dogs sustained injury in the first two years after a ban was introduced there.

Early docking prevents the risk of serious injury to dogs used to retrieve game and track injured deer and by dogs used to detect drugs, explosives and trapped disaster victims. Spaniels and pointers are particularly prone.

However 90% of vets support a full ban and animal welfare groups claim such a move would reducing suffering and have little impact on field sports.

CLA Wales director Julian Salmon, said the government had been poorly advised in supporting the ban.

"It will be a cause of considerable upset to many who live and work in the countryside," he said..

"As anyone who has seen a dog whose tail has not been docked will know, the consequences can be horrific. Long tails frequently get torn by the gorse and brambles then, as the tail is wagged, the blood splashes everywhere."

There are an estimated 450,000 gundogs in England and Wales and about 70,000 puppies have their tails docked each year.